SWATC Raising Funds for New Building

Southwest Applied Technology College’s 27% enrollment growth last year is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it means more students received training that helped them find jobs in our tough economy. On the other hand, it means the College is one giant step closer to running out of space to accept more students.

Most of Southwest ATC’s instruction occurs at the main campus, located at 510 W 800 S in Cedar City. That facility is leased from Iron School District and the College shares the 42,000 square feet space with the District’s Adult High School. The College’s Automotive Technology program is housed in another leased facility at the north end of Cedar City.

According to Campus President Dana Miller, it’s limited facilities is hurting both current and future students. “We have nearly 1,000 students each year enrolled in Health Science programs. Virtually all of that instruction occurs in 3 classrooms and one very inadequate lab.” The lack of space has caused long wait times for students wanting to enroll in Nursing Assistant and Phlebotomy programs.

In addition to limiting current enrollment, the College has no room to expand its Health Science program offerings. Southwest ATC has plans to add License Practical Nursing (LPN), Pharmacy Technician, Surgical Technician and Dental Assisting programs. These programs can’t be added without additional space.

The solution? The College has requested funding from the State Legislature to construct a 68,000 square feet Allied Health and Technology building. The building will be constructed on college-owned property just south of Cedar High School. The new building will increase Southwest ATC’s capacity by 150% and allow the state-owned school to add several programs in high demand by local employers.

Former Cedar City Mayor and Southern Utah University President Gerald Sherratt observed: “A vital part of Cedar City’s economic development efforts evolve around building an effective work force. If the city is to attract new businesses and manufacturing it will need to train people with needed job skills, all of which the proposed building is designed to do.”

School officials plan to meet with community leaders and various groups over the next several months to discuss the College’s role in regional economic development and the importance of securing additional facilities to expand capacity and program offerings.